The present invention relates to a radio communication apparatus which displays the condition whether the field strength of a radio wave is at a receivable level or not, and particularly to a configuration in which the condition whether the field strength of a radio wave from a base station is at a receivable level in a current place or not is displayed by means of display patterns such as pictures that can be switched over at an interval of a constant time.
In a conventional radio-communication apparatus, when the field strength of a radio wave from a radio base station is at a receivable level in a current place, an antenna symbol is displayed in the uppermost or lower most area of a display unit, and, when the field strength is at an unreceivable level, the antenna symbol is not displayed or characters such as "outside of service" are displayed in the uppermost or lower most area of the display unit, thereby informing the user of the level of the field strength.
In a conventional radio communication apparatus, a message from a sender or characters and the like which are input by the user are displayed in a center area of a display unit. Therefore, an antenna symbol or characters which inform the user whether the field strength of a radio wave from a radio base station is at a receivable level or not are often displayed in the uppermost or lower most area of the display unit, and in a small size. Consequently, such a radio communication apparatus has a defect that a receivable state cannot be recognized at a glance.
Recently, a radio communication apparatus is produced in a reduced size, and hence it is difficult to increase the size of a display unit. Therefore, the above-mentioned antenna symbol or characters such as "outside of service" are hardly displayed in a large size.